To Right A Wrong
by smile1
Summary: Trory -One Parter- He did her wrong once and even though it has become a part of his past, it's still a part of her future. She slowly becomes 'crazy' and they both have to deal with the consequences. The ending might or might not be what you would expect


Disclaimer: I don't own the series Gilmore Girls or the original character. All I own is my imagination and the plot.

A/N: Finally, I have all the time in the world to write whatever I want, although, I have been juggling with this idea for a while. I wanted to use this plot for both a Lit and Trory, so that's exactly what I did. Don't underestimate me, though.... the Literati version of this story is not at all like this one. :-) _And thank you, Alexia._

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To Right A Wrong

With one effortless turn of the wrist, he turned off the ignition of his car, the grumbling sounds quickly fading into the silence that seemed to have attached itself to the surrounding air; it seemed to cling to his breaths as he drew in the air and it seemed to linger between his lips longer than it was supposed to, giving him a chance to engulf the silence, to taste it. It always tasted the same, like a bizarre and unhealthy combination of plastic and menthol, although, it was only the menthol he could smell and reminded him that he was indeed near a hospital. A psychiatric hospital to be exact.

He reached for his sunglasses and took them off, giving him a clear and unblemished view of the building he dreaded, but set foot in three to four times a week. He placed the glasses in the pocket of his polo shirt, adding to the unusualness of this scenario: a boy who could be no older than twenty, sitting in a car his daddy bought for him, looking so casual and out of place in his light blue polo shirt. The look in his eyes would prove people wrong, though. His eyes stood serious and looked too exhausted for his age; they looked timeworn, like he had experienced more than enough pain and unfairness far before he should have.

He looked up, tilting his head in the process, so he could skillfully shade his eyes from the sun. When his gaze collided with the building, a shiver passed through his body, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Absurdly enough, the walls on the exterior of the building were just as white as the interior of it. It was a shade of white that had the ability of hurting your eyes if you stared at it too long and even though the rooms inside the building were decorated with a variety of pictures and paintings, the white would always leave you feeling overwhelmed, overpowered. His theory was, therefore, that the whiteness was what drove people even further into insanity once they got here and, if it wasn't the pure shade of white that drove them crazy, it had to be that undeniable silence that always hung about - a silence that forced people to retreat into the backrooms of their minds and get lost in reveries of life before this institution, before they got put away in this loony bin.

He cringed at the harshness of his last two words. He regretted them; he felt like he had offended her. For he shouldn't forget that, up until now, she had also been locked up in there, hidden from the rest of the world because she had acted slightly abnormal - slightly crazy, although, her insanity wasn't an illness of the mind, it had been a flaw in her usual behavior. Her paranoia had led him to lock her away like this and he would feel guilty about it every single day because it was, after all, his fault. At his confronting realization, he let his eyes wander to the park across from the hospital. He had been grateful to find out that Rory's room wouldn't be facing it. She wouldn't have been able to handle it, not in the beginning.

-x-Flashback-x-

Rory blindly handed the cabdriver a few five dollar bills, not paying attention to her actions. Her eyes had wandered to the all too familiar figure that was strolling in the direction of the park with its hands casually placed in its pockets, acting like this day was just as ordinary as all those others, but she knew that this day would end up to be anything but just that - her suspicious mind would make sure of it. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the memories that accompanied this particular picture, memories that still stung. The haze that had gripped her mind was unforgiving and seemed unable to let go of his past mistake, of his former slip. She knew that everyone did make mistakes, but she had never expected him to. Not after the struggle he went through to get her to trust him and to create a safe landing place for her so she could just let herself fall in love with him, knowing that she could rely on him.

The cab-driver called her name and she was forced to look away for a couple of precious seconds and lift the heavy weight of her gaze off of his shoulders. And to be honest, she didn't trust him enough to let him out of her sight that long. Her mind had attached itself fully to the image that she had encountered only once and still chose to cling to, although, that decision was something she could barely control and sometimes even lost control of completely.

Rory's eyes lowered themselves down to the cabdriver's hand which he held out a wrinkled dollar between his fingers.

''Youre change, ma'am.''

''Oh, keep it,'' Rory said, her mind elsewhere.

''Thanks,'' the cab-driver said, smiling at what he thought was a kind gesture on Rory's part when really she had just done it out of haste, a few seconds she could cut off their meaningless interaction so that she was just in time to turn her head and see him disappear between the strolling couples and playing children. This sight should have filled her with relief, but instead, she was still suspicious because of her lack of trust and fear that he would stray once again. Her emotions resembled a kaleidoscope, showing her a different image every time she looked and every time she did take a closer look at them, different feelings kept arising to the surface, although, lately, all rational ones had been overshadowed by her doubts. It was this particular emotion that had led her to get into a taxi and follow him to whatever destination and it was her paranoia that caused her eyes to narrow and her feet to move themselves away from the yellow car and in the direction of the park instead.

''Have a nice day!'' the cabdriver offered before shaking his head and driving off in search of other customers, although, none of them would even bother to tip.

Rory's pace quickened the closer she got to the park. She followed the same path as him, tracing his steps carefully while throwing glances at her surroundings, looking for him. She didn't pay attention to the playground, which formed the center of the park, and she passed by the hot dog stand without looking up. Rory knew what his favorite part of the park was; she knew where to look. Her feet brought her to the more secluded part of the park, an area that was shaded from the sun by trees and delivered a comfortable environment with its small gardens and white, stone benches. She knew for a fact that he came here often, to have same time for himself, to be alone, or so he wanted her to believe. She believed differently and that side took over her entire train of thought and made her see deceit and deception behind every corner.

Suddenly, her feet came to an abrupt halt. He was sitting on one of the benches, alone. Rory quickly hid herself behind a tree and observed him through the leaves. Relief hesitantly filled her when she realized that he was indeed alone. She let out a shaky breath and pushed herself away from the tree, planning on leaving and never having him find out about this.

She waited for a girl to pass by before making an attempt to turn around - an attempt that was stopped by what she caught out of the corner of her eye. The girl was heading in his direction and, even though her hips didn't have an enticing swing to them and she wasn't flicking her hair, Rory felt threatened by her. Ever since she found out, she felt threatened by every girl she ran in to.

With one swift movement, she was back behind the tree, curiously glaring in the direction of the girl, who had now stopped at the same bench as where he was sitting. Rory saw them exchange some words before the girl sat down next to him and it took only a few seconds before the two of them were wrapped up in a conversation - one that included a lot of laughing on her part which he didn't seem to object to.

Rory shook her head and hastily turned around, walking off in the opposite direction, too upset to keep her head high and appearances up. She just wanted to get away from him. She brushed past someone without looking up, but she wasn't as lucky the second time around. This time she did bump into someone as a result of her haste. Absent mindedly, she took a step back, hoping to retrieve her balance quickly, although, she became aware of two hands on her shoulder that had already done that for her.

''Watch it,'' came a voice only inches away from her.

Rory looked up at the guy who had said that and, as she did this, his friends started to whistle, making her feel caught and nervous. She murmured a 'thank you' and pulled away from the guy's hold so she could continue in the direction she was heading. Just as she passed the playground, someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the side, turning her around and backing her up against a tree in the process. Rory didn't make a sound, knowing who it was.

''What are you doing here?'' Tristan breathed, not wanting to attract any curious gazes and pointing fingers.

Rory looked him directly in the eyes, studying his gaze. She could see how close to anger he was by the way his eyes had slightly narrowed and darkened at their contact. She reached for her back pocket and fished out a book, holding it up for him to see.

''I came here to read.''

''Did you follow me?'' he asked as calmly as he could.

Rory shook her head. ''No, I came to read.''

Tristan leaned in a little more, his gaze becoming heavier by the second. ''Bull, you were spying on me.'' He grabbed the book and roughly pulled it out of her hands. ''You followed me here,'' he whispered before taking a couple of steps back. ''You don't trust me.''

He lowered his eyes to the book and chewed on his lower lip for a tense minute before leveling his gaze with hers again, his anger more than evident by the way his nostrils slightly flared at this emotion.

''Damn it, Rory. You promised to stop this. You don't have to follow me everywhere I go. I cheated one time.....''

''You were working on your second one,'' she interrupted.

Tristan paused, searching her eyes for the meaning that came with those words. When he found it, he took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from yelling at her. ''I don't know her. She came up to me and asked if she could sit with me.''

''There were enough empty benches she could choose from,'' Rory pointed out.

Tristan shrugged, trying to make it seem careless. ''Maybe she wanted the company..... We just ended up talking.''

''Yeah, and afterwards you planned on taking her to your car and.....'' Rory trailed off.

''And do what, Rory?'' he asked while taking a step towards her.

''Nothing. You're too good for that. You would take her to a hotel instead.''

''Rory.....''

''Or maybe you would take her to our apartment and.....''

''Stop,'' Tristan warned, bringing his hand down onto the tree, right next to her head.

Rory stopped talking for a few seconds, allowing a brief silence to come between them, a silence where she could tell by his breathing, that she had almost crossed the line. She placed her hands against his chest and pushed him away from her, creating more space between them and breaking his opportunity to intimidate her with his posture.

''I don't know what you would do for a pretty face and long legs. I don't know you anymore.''

''It happened once, it was one mistake,'' Tristan explained, gripping the book tighter.

''One too many.''

''Well, what did you expect? I'm not perfect, I'm human.''

Rory's breath caught in her throat at his words and tears sprung to her eyes. ''Nice to know I mean so much to you!'' She brushed past him and started to head in the direction of the street.

''I didn't mean it like that!'' Tristan ran a hand through his hair before turning around and heading after her, the book still in hand.

He caught up with her without any effort and caught her by the arm before she was able to leave the park and cross the street. ''You know I didn't mean it like that, but you're just looking and waiting for me to do you wrong again when I'm not going to.''

''Liar,'' Rory said while resting her gaze just below his eyes. ''I saw you having lunch with Nancy yesterday.....''

''We work together,'' Tristan started to explain, but stopped when he realized what she had just said. ''You followed me yesterday, too?''

Rory pulled her arm free before he could tighten his grip. ''I had to. You didn't tell me that you were going to have lunch with her. You don't tell me anything.''

''I don't tell you everything because I know how you'll react.''

Rory remained silent as she lowered her eyes completely.

''Ror, you have to stop doing this,'' Tristan softly said.

She brought her eyes back up to his, fresh tears evident in them. ''I can't.''

-x-End of Flashback-x-

Tristan brought his hand up to the corner of his eye and let it slip down from there, tracing the lonely path of a stray tear that he had shed at the memory, one of the many that kept circling through his mind. He wiped his hand on the side of his jeans while pulling his keys from the ignition with the other one. He scooped up his sunglasses before getting out of his car, locking it, and heading towards the entrance of the building. His footsteps were light and quick, barely taking the time to touch the ground because he wanted to get to her as fast as he could, thinking that he had wasted more than enough time taking a stroll down memory lane. He wanted to get to her so the memories would finally stop and be replaced by new ones, memories of her that didn't include this place.

He slid into the building through the sliding doors, although, he still felt like he was creeping in by the way the pace of his footsteps decreased and by the way he held his breath as he slipped through the doors. His footsteps sounded like dull thuds as he entered the lobby and headed directly for the main desk which he could hardly tell from the wall because it was painted in the same screaming white. The nurse behind the desk looked up and greeted him with a knowing smile as he came to a halt in front of her.

''Good morning, Mr. DuGrey. Today must be a splendid day for you.''

Tristan returned her smile, although, his was slightly more hesitant and lacking sureness, for he wouldn't be sure of anything until she would be walking through those sliding doors with him and leaving all of this as far behind her as she could.

''Morning, Jenny.''

The nurse, Jenny, shot him another one of her happy smile, one he should be wearing. ''Dr. Brice is waiting for you in his office.''

Tristan nodded while placing his hands in his pockets and turning around in the direction of one of the many halls. ''It's at the end of the hall, right?''

''Right. You can just go in, he's expecting you.''

''Thank you, Jenny.''

Tristan threw a small smile before heading off in the direction of Dr. Brice's office. The hall he had to travel through seemed endless and out of place since he didn't seem to have an actual purpose. The only door was at the end of it and he didn't quite get why a hall had to have been put in for just a single door. Once he reached the door, which had been painted in an ivory color instead of the constant white, he removed his hands from his pockets and knocked, impatiently waiting for someone to answer.

''Come in.''

Tristan took in a gulp of air before having found the courage to turn the knob and opening the door. As soon as he came in sight, the doctor smiled and gestured for him to come in, which he did. He closed the door behind him and headed over to the doctor's bureau, coming to a stop in front of the comfortable looking armchairs, reminding him that he was indeed in a doctor's office.

''Good morning, Dr. Brice.''

''Mr. DuGrey,'' the doctor said with a nod. ''Please, sit down, unless you would prefer to have this conversation standing.''

Tristan nervously cleared his throat and obediently sat down in one of the chairs, clasping his hands together in his lap - movement the doctor made, too, only he had his elbows resting on the desk, instead.

''So, you must be thrilled about today,'' Dr. Brice started. ''You finally get to take Rory home with you.''

Tristan nodded. ''Thrilled indeed. She has been locked up in here long enough and I just wanna sign everything that needs to be signed so I can take her out of this place.''

''You almost talk about her as if she was never even crazy,'' Dr. Brice said while meeting Tristan's gaze.

''Well, to be honest, I don't believe she really was crazy, not like most of your patients, anyway. She just had some pain to struggle through.''

''Pain indeed.''

Tristan lowered his gaze to the dark brown color of the desk. ''Is she alright now?''

This time the doctor cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. ''Well, she has gotten over her issues if that's what you mean, but her trust has been scarred so that will have to be won back.''

Tristan nodded and looked up at the doctor. ''Do you have the paperwork that needs to be signed?''

''Most certainly.'' Dr. Brice opened a drawer and pulled out a small stack of papers which he slid in Tristan's direction. ''Mrs. Gilmore, Rory's mother, has already signed them yesterday so the release of Rory is already official, but since you're the one that actually brought her in, we need your signature, too.'' Dr. Brice handed Tristan a pen and watched as he carefully went through the documents and finally scribbled his signature at the bottom of them.

Tristan placed the pen on the small package of paper and slid them back in Dr. Brice's direction. ''Can I go get her now?''

A crooked smile appeared on Dr. Brice's face as he nodded. ''Of course. Jenny will take you to her.''

Tristan smiled and got up, holding his hand out for the doctor to shake, which he did.

''Take good care of her, Mr. DuGrey.''

''I will, thanks. Thanks for everything Dr. Brice.''

''That's what I'm here for, unfortunately.''

Tristan softly chuckled at his joke before pulling his hand back and heading towards the door, exiting the office, feeling relieved for the first time today. He was really going to take her home.

-x-x-x-

''Here we are,'' Jenny said as they reached Rory's room. She pulled a key from her set and unlocked the door, although, Tristan still didn't get why Rory had to be kept behind lock and key. It was something he had questioned the first time he had come here, but it was procedure and every patient was to be treated the same way, no exceptions.

Jenny did have the decency to knock on the door before opening it further. ''You can go in. I have to get back to my post, but make sure to say goodbye before you leave, okay?''

Tristan nodded and waited until Jenny was already halfway the corridor before entering the room - a room that made him feel nervous because of its white walls and white furniture. His eyes immediately found her familiar figure, sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up and a book balancing on top of them. She had her eyes fixed on it and she hadn't seemed to have heard him come in so he cleared his throat loudly.

Rory's eyes flew up and quickly found his, freezing him in place for a few seconds with their beauty. He had looked into her eyes every time he had come to visit her, but today it was as if he was experiencing it for the first time. He was mesmerized by the childlike innocence in them that she seemed to keep no matter what she did and by the light shade of blue - a shade that calmed him down no matter how angry or upset he would be. Those eyes would lure him into telling her every one of his secrets and his heart to wrench whenever she would shed as much as a single tear. A smile came to a rest on his face and finally gave him some peace.

''Hey.''

Rory returned his smile with a shy one of her own. ''Hey.''

''Are you ready to leave?'' he asked while taking a few steps towards her.

Rory nodded. ''Yeah, they even let me pack my stuff all by myself.'' She gestured towards the two bags next to her on the bed. ''I didn't pack my books, though. I've read them all about a hundred times so I donated them to this facility instead.''

''We can drop by a bookstore on our way home,'' Tristan thoughtfully offered, but Rory shook her head.

''No, I just wanna go home..... and have coffee,'' she finished with a smile.

''I thought the doctor would look into that addiction of yours?''

Rory's smile widened at his playful comment.

''So,'' Tristan started as he held out his hand for her. ''ready to go home?''

-x-x-x-

Tristan stirred in his sleep - a sleep that had been restless so far. He shifted a couple of times, but still couldn't find a comfortable position so he turned around to try his other side, groaning as he did this. His eyes had remained shut the entire time, but flew open when his legs grazed against warm skin. He felt like he was choking on his own breath when his eyes collided with a pair of bright blue ones, only inches away from him. A shiver went through him as he realized that his legs had grazed against her skin - skin that felt like velvet and was of a temperature that just added a level of intimacy to their closeness.

''What are you doing?'' he asked, his voice sounding hoarse.

''I couldn't sleep,'' Rory simply answered. ''You don't mind, do you? I just..... I remember doing this, but I wasn't thinking so if you want me to leave.....''

Tristan silenced her with an abrupt kiss - one he hadn't planned, but just wanted to give her because he hadn't been this close to her in so long and she just looked so irresistible lying here next to him with her hair tousled and her eyes sleepy. It was a sweet kiss - one he slowly pulled away from. He rested his forehead against hers as he looked at her - looked as a light blush spread across her cheeks and she lowered her eyes in bashfulness.

''I don't want you to leave,'' he whispered sweetly. ''I haven't woken up to your face for a long time and I missed it.''

''I missed it, too,'' Rory softly confessed. ''I'm sorry, you know.''

Tristan placed a kiss on her forehead. ''Ditto.'' He carefully moved one of his legs and entangled it with hers, wanting to feel every inch of her body against his. Rory snuggled up against him, burying her face in his chest while his was buried in her long, dark locks. They fell asleep like this, entangled, just like the paths of their future would be.

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**REVIEW! Please? :-)** I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with the way I ended it, but I'm happy with the rest of the story. :-) If you wanna check out the Literati version of this story and see for yourself that it's completelt different from this one..... it's called: _You Drive Me Crazy _and the ending and the flashback are the parts that make the difference, I think. :-) Also, if you are both a Lit and Trory fan, would you be so kind to R&R my Literati one parter, too? It goes by the name: _Black and White. _Thanks! :-)

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